


What Kids Do

by orphan_account



Category: 999: Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors - Fandom, Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-06
Updated: 2014-09-06
Packaged: 2018-02-15 19:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2240502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akane comes home from her last day of third grade before winter break.</p><p> Written for 999 Week 2014.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Kids Do

 Akane trotted home in the dimming winter light, hurrying from her bus in order to get home before she froze. The heavy flakes of snow had stopped for the time being, however the dark sky told of snowfall to come. It was the Friday before her winter break, however, and Akane was excited to have the time to play in the cold fluff whenever she wanted to.

 It only took her a few minutes to reach her house, although she was already grateful to be able to warm up. Today was her big brother's last day of school, too, but since she was off earlier than he was today, Akane was going to have to warm up with a blanket before her brother could come home and light a fire for her. She remembered that he'd been complaining about some sort of "special assembly" at his middle school that would be holding them back a while, but she hoped that he wouldn't take too long. Her elementary school hadn’t had any assemblies today, leaving her wondering why only her brother should have one.

 Slowly, she pulled her house key out of her bag, however a faint skidding noise from behind her surprised her, making her drop the key into the deep snow. Pouting behind her scarf, Akane turned around to see what had made the loud noise and disturbed her.

 Someone was half-slipping, half-running down the sloping street, heading the same direction Akane just had. It quickly became apparent that  _whoever_ this was, was quickly losing grip on the slippery terrain, and, an expression full of worry, Akane hurriedly slipped off her bag and took off at a dash - at least, however much of a dash you  _could_ when you're trudging through at least a half a foot of snow. The person was still sliding around, and for a brief moment Akane had hopes that perhaps they'd manage to regain their ground, but to her great distress they eventually slipped and dove straight into a snow bank in the ditch beside the road.

 Eventually - and I  _do_ mean  _eventually_ \- Akane made it to the scene of the disaster, where the person was still squirming to get out of the stiff snow.

 "Um, uh, hello! H-Hi, um, are you okay..? I-I'm gonna help you out, alright..?" She spoke meekly, however her nervous voice seemed to rouse something out of them, as they began squirming even more rigorously than beforehand. Akane, helping out the only way she knew how, tugged on their leg with all of her small force.  
  
 The person who ultimately pulled themselves out was, to Akane's great surprise, her brother. He shook himself out, snow still sticking to him even afterwards, before grinning to his sister as he huffed in the freezing air. He picked her up in a hug, holding her as he slowly trudged along to their house. She squeezed him tightly, before finally speaking.

 "Hey, big bro! I thought you weren't s'posed to be home until way later! I didn't even know that was you, until you popped out of the snow!" Akane giggled, still holding onto him.

 He gave an exaggerated sigh, prompting another giggle, as he turned to smile at her. "Well, that assembly was gonna be really boring, n' I wanted to surprise you by being at your stop today, but I was kinda late getting out... I was trying to catch up with you, but I kinda lost my footing going over the hill, eheh... heh..." 

 Akane frowned at him, however her laughter was still visible in her eyes. "Silly! You should've been more careful. I even had to help you get out! If it weren't for me, I bet you still would've been stuck in that icky snow."

 Aoi nodded, his smile now more sincere. "Of course, silly me! You were super brave going to help someone you didn't even know, though. I'm  _very_ proud of you." Akane burrowed herself into his shoulder, still gripping him into a loose hug.

 They finally made it to their house, Aoi gently setting down his sister in front of the steps. He frowned, stopping to turn at her with a raised eyebrow. "Akane, your bag! It's probably soaking wet, now!" 

 She'd forgotten all about it after she'd dropped it, running up the steps to pick it up as soon as her brother had mentioned it. "Oh, no...! I hope I didn't ruin anything...!" She attempted to open it up to check the inside, however her brother stopped her.

 "Here, Akane, why don't we get you all warmed up inside, first? Then we can open it up and dry off anything we need to." She paused briefly, before looking up at him and nodding vigorously. Aoi looked around briefly, before checking the door and frowning. "Er, hey, sis, do you have your key on you? Mine's at the bottom of my bag..."

 She blinked, thinking briefly before looking around frantically. "Uh, uh oh! I think I might have dropped it when I saw you slipping down the hill...!" She began digging through the snow, her gloves scooping at the soft snow. Aoi crouched, helping her pick through, neglecting the fact that he wore nothing over his hands.

 Fortunately, they found the key quickly enough, Akane hopping up to her feet the moment she'd found it. Reaching up on her toes, she unlocked her door as her brother stood slowly, running inside immediately in order to warm up. The two of them took a while to take off all of their winter gear, Aoi helping his sister, however Akane took off at a dash as soon as she could and rushing off to the living room in order to plunk her bag down and open it up. Her brother followed at a much slower pace, still tired from his run home.

 By the time he'd arrived at the fireplace, Akane was already spilling open her entire bag onto the wooden floor, picking through it delicately. Fortunately, she'd left most of her supplies at school, leaving little to get damaged. As Aoi plunked wood and paper into the fireplace, however, she cried out just as he'd reached for the lighter - he turned to her suddenly, surprise apparent on his face. The cause for her outburst appeared to be a sopping wet collection of papers she held delicately in her hands, the importance of which she explained with haste.

 "Ah...! This is my script for our class play! It got all wet, s-so now how’m I gonna rehearse...?" She turned to her brother, tears forming in her eyes. He rushed over, gently placing the soaked paper on the floor, before lifting her up in a hug. 

 "Aww, c'mon, Kanny, I'm sure we'll be able to fix this! I'm just about to start a fire, so while you warm up, your paper can dry out! It'll probably take a while, but I'm sure that by tomorrow morning it'll be all dried out." He smiled, plunking her back down on the floor gently as he returned to the fireplace.

 She sniffed, wiping at her eyes roughly. "You promise that it'll be okay...?"

 "I promise." He nodded reassuringly to her, which was met with a begrudging "O- _kay_...”

 A few minutes later, the fire was flickering calmly as it warmed the house. Akane had grabbed a blanket to wrap herself in as Aoi headed to the kitchen to make their dinner, following him along with her blanket dragging on the floor. She found him squinting at the leftovers in the fridge, eventually pulling out numerous plastic containers of leftover food.

 They ate in front of the fireplace, talking about how their last days at school had gone. Akane spoke animatedly, always adding in details she'd forgotten as her brother listened, rapt. She eventually trailed off, Aoi taking the opportunity to clear their plates. She followed once more, still toting her blanket with her. He sent her up the stairs to change to pajamas, ruffling her hair to indignant protests and promising her a surprise when she returned.

 The surprise was, of course, two steaming mugs of hot chocolate with a couple of marshmallows dropped into each. Aoi brought them both back to the fire and setting one out for his sister, who sat with stars in her eyes as she watched it carefully. He smiled at her expression, blowing carefully on his.

 "Now, make sure it cools down a bit before you drink it, alright? Don't burn your tongue!" She nodded, a huge smile spread across her face as she eyed the drink placed temptingly in front of her. "And, hmm, what should we talk about now...? Oh, right! I wanted to know - you've never told me about this 'class play' you've got that script for! So, what is it?" He leaned in a tad, evidently interested.

 She seemed excited to reply, having completely forgotten about telling him earlier. "Oh, well, um, we're doing a winter play after Christmas Break! We all got parts to play, and I'm the main character - a  _very_ pretty snow princess! I've got a lot of stuff to remember, though, and we do it the Friday after we get back to school! Um, um, do you wanna come, big bro? It's right after school, so you can get over there, right..?" She stared at him, and he nodded back.

 "Of course I could! I'd love to watch you play the part of a princess, and I bet you're gonna be the best one there!" He thought briefly, sipping at his still-hot drink. "Hmm... why don't you tell me about this whole play of yours?"

 She sniffed at her drink, testing it with a finger, however it was still too hot for her to sip. "Mm, big bro, you got it wrong! I'm the  _snow_  princess!" He held up his hands in an act of mock surrender, making her laugh as she continued. "Well, um, so, we're doing a play where the snow princess is really nice to everyone who lives in her kingdom, but one day the big bad fire king comes along and melts everything! Me n' all of my friends go to stop him, and then we all realize it was a big misunderstanding and we all become best friends! My teacher said I was a really good actor, so that means I get to be the main person! Oh, oh, and also, d'you remember Junpei?" She paused as she waited for his response, taking a timid sip of her cooling drink.

 Aoi smiled. "Yeah, I sure do! He's your best friend, isn't he?"

 She nodded vigorously in response, glad he'd remembered him. "Yup! Anyway, Jumpy gets to be my best friend, and he's an elf! He's really funny, and I'm super happy he gets to be my best friend, even in the play."

 The two siblings continued talking about the play for a time, Akane happy to keep talking about her and Junpei's parts. After a long time, she began to yawn profusely, eventually laying down and gradually falling asleep in front of the fire.

 As Aoi gently laid the blanket she'd carried around all evening on his sleeping sister, he grabbed her half-finished cocoa from her side to return it to the kitchen, however he froze when he loudly knocked a few glasses together on the counter. After a few moments of silence, he tiptoed back to the fireplace where, thankfully, Akane still lay peacefully.

 "Big bro...?" The voice interrupted the stillness in the room, and Aoi glanced over at her tiny innocence fondly. He let out a long sigh, laying down to face her half-open eyes.

 "Yeah, Kanny?" He smiled at her, and she smiled back, closing her eyes slowly.

 "Mm... I love you, big bro."


End file.
